Average asking rents outside of London hit another new record of £1,126 per month, rising 3.5% from the last quarter and by 11.8% compared to last year.

This increase in average asking rents means that rents outside of London are rising at the highest annual rate Rightmove has ever recorded in 16 years of reporting. Monthly rents have now risen by 19% (£177) since the pandemic started two years ago.

By contrast, it took eight years pre-pandemic to reach the same level of growth, illustrating the rapid rise in asking rents since the start of the pandemic. This quarter’s 3.5% jump is the second highest quarterly rise in ten years.

Rents in the capital also continue to rise as London reaches a new record average asking rent of £2,257pm this quarter. The annual growth in asking rents in London is now at 15.8%, the fastest ever rate of any region.

Rising rents continue to be driven by a shortage of available rental stock, with low volumes struggling to meet high tenant demand over the past two years.

Although there is still a shortage of available homes to rent, there continues to be signs of this improving and the number of new rental listings is up 8% since the start of the year.